A 27-year-old man from KwaZulu-Natal has pleaded guilty to raping his niece when he appeared at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday.
The accused confessed that he kidnapped, raped and murdered the six-year-old girl in February.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the incident took place in Mtwalume near Umzinto.
He told the high court that he had been working at the child’s grandmother’s house where he was digging a pit toilet on the day the rape took place.
Ramkisson-Kara said: “At some point, the pick-handle broke and the granny advised him that she would borrow another pick from her neighbour.
“He then asked her for money to buy cigarettes from the shop. The child was also at the same shop to buy some items for her mother.”
He is said to have convinced the child to follow him on a different path back home.
“As they were walking, he decided that he would rape her, and raped her twice. When he was done, the child told him that she was going to report him to her granny.”
It was at that point that the accused strangle the child until she stopped moving, according to what he told the court.
“He covered her body with some sand and returned to the house where the granny asked him if he had seen the child.
“Even though he said he had left her at the shop, some community members accompanied him to the police station where he confessed to his actions and was arrested.”
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